And the problem is, I don’t know what I’m asking of it.
The whispers grow louder, words forming from the haze.
Consume.
Devour.
Become.
They coil around me and their spell pulls me deeper into the abyss, and I sink, letting my head drop beneath the surface.
My hands tremble as I push on Kade’s chest, my voicebreaking. “Let me go.”
“I can’t,” he says, his voice rough and full of fear, “and I won’t.”
The magic lashes out, a wildfire spilling from me that tears through the room like a hurricane. The air crackles with energy, and the scent of cedarwood and burning embers twists into ash and ruin as darkness descends. Kade clings on, his hands refusing to let me go as his own magic rises to defend him. The shadows he commands coil around him like serpents, hissing and snapping at the flames leaping from my skin.
And the whispers in my mind become a chorus.
Their chants echo like a warning or a promise.
“Zara,” Kade calls out, his voice sharp, cutting through the cacophony. “You have to take control.”
The magic inside me crescendos until its roar is deafening, the noises twisting and churning through the crevices of my soul. My heart pounds in rhythm with their chant and my senses spiral out of control as the darkness threatens to consume everything. Kade’s grip on me is firm, his voice an anchor that will not slip as the storm waves break on him, but even he can’t hold back this tide forever.
“Zara!” he shouts, his voice filled with rare notes of fear. “This power is yours. Own it, or it will own you.”
The fire inside me roars louder, fueled by his words, by my doubts, by the truth I’ve been trying to deny. My magic isn’t a separate entity. It’s not some wild, uncontrollable force.
It’s me.
It’s every fractured piece of me, every buried emotion, every shadow I’ve ever cast.
It’s my anger, my grief, my love, and my hate.
It’s mine.
I close my eyes and let the fire rage, let it race through me and consume everything in its path. I burn in this crucible, letting the magic strip me bare until there’s nothing left but raw, relentless power. The heat burns hotter and I scream in agony until the whispers grow softer and the voices recede into the background.
The room stills and the flames begin to bend, changing their shape as if I’m commanding them. The air is thick with ash and magic, and I struggle, pulling and pushing and writhing as I shape the fire burning through me, demanding it obey.
I open my eyes, seeing the flames casting golden light across the room, reflecting in Kade’s dark gaze. His expression is a blur of emotions, but there’s tension in the set of his jaw, in the way his hands curl into fists at his sides.
The fire bows to my will and its flames shrink away, folding inward until they vanish into the air. The silence that follows is deafening and my body gives out, slumping as I collapse onto the bed. Heat pulses through me like an aftershock and I pant as sweat drips from my pores and drenches the sheet beneath me.
Kade kneels beside me, his grip firm as he pulls me against him. “That was reckless, kitten.”
“You think I wanted that?”
He doesn’t answer, his eyes scanning the room. The walls are scorched black, the air thick with smoke and something else. Something’s wrong.
“What the fuck was that?” he mutters, more to himself than me.
I shake my head, still trembling. “I don’t know.”
My stomach twists as a cold and twisted breeze snakes through the room, carrying with it the faintest whisper of another presence. We aren’t alone and I watch the walls bleedshadows as faces form where the light doesn’t dare to reach.
A spark flickers at the edge of my vision, a warning and a promise of worse to come. The threat fades away and I open my mouth to speak, but the oppressive dark swallows my voice. The night closes in and the silence roars while the air holds its breath, waiting for whatever happens next.
Something is lurking in the dark.
It’s watching, and it’s waiting for the right moment to strike.
